Jamie Lloyd’s spectacular revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s classic musical is now playing at the St. James Theatre in New York City
If you’re lucky enough to get a ticket to see Nicole Scherzinger in the Broadway revival of Sunset Boulevard, you might want to wear comfortable shoes.
The Grammy nominee gives a chilling, career-defining performance in the musical that’s so commanding, so seductive and so magnificent, she’s receiving multiple mid-show standing ovations — including one that lasted 6 minutes on Sunday, Oct. 20, when the show officially opened at the St. James Theatre in New York City.
It’s an incredible moment to witness, and one that fans of the former Pussycat Doll frontwoman feel is long-overdue. After years of cutting her teeth in the music industry and failing to connect as a solo artist in the states, Scherzinger is finally getting the flowers she deserves as she makes her Broadway debut.
She even lingers on the word “home” in the lyric “I’ve come home at last” from “As If We Never Said Goodbye,” as if to remind everyone that the stage is where she belongs.
But Scherzinger will surely be getting way more than flowers for playing faded silent movie star Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, styled as Sunset Blvd. this time around. Already the recipient of the Olivier Award after the musical’s run in London’s West End, the X-Factor and Masked Singer judge should be making space on her shelf for a Tony Award, with many considering her the frontrunner for the prize.
Not only is Scherzinger’s powerful voice in top form, but she’s given layers to the character audiences have never seen before (and that’s not counting the trendy dance moves choreographer Fabian Aloise has arranged). Scherzinger’s Desmond is charismatic, funny, sensual, intelligent, dramatic, conniving and monstrous — all at the same time. She flirts her way into the hearts of everyone around her in a way that has you rooting for her, even when her behavior becomes ugly and outrageous.
Let’s just say, she’d make a fantastic Real Housewife of Beverly Hills.